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Posted By:
Hal Brown
Date Posted:
Oct 12, 2008
Description:
Leadville was an epicenter of mining activity in the 1800’s and 1900’s. It sits on a gravel terrace in between Mt. Massive and Mt. Elbert. The terrace was formed from glacial outwash.
The Arkansas River flows southward out of Leadville. Along the rocky stream was an old placer mine work. Gold and silver mining was a big deal in the 1880’s and there are lots of old abandoned shafts.
After the gold and silver was gone, more mundane minerals such as zinc and lead were mined. During World War II, Leadville was an important source of molybdenum. In fact, the world’s two largest known concentrations of this valuable mineral are in Colorado. From 1925 to 1967 the Climax Mine near Leadville produced half the world’s molybdenum. The Climax Mine continued into the early 1980’s until its moly operation shut down due to declining prices.
Back in 1943 the government figured out that the old mine tailings were bad news. They contaminated the water with lots of toxic metals. A drainage tunnel was installed. Nobody bothered to keep up with its maintenance and by the 1970’s it was falling apart.
“Somebody should fix the dern thing,” was a common lament. Unfortunately two federal bureaucracies weren’t about to add the project to their budget problems. The Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) said it was an EPA problem. EPA that since BOR had leased the mines and already had a water treatment plant, it should be a Bureau budget item. The State of Colorado said we’ll take over if the feds will pay us to do it. Since the feds wouldn’t pay, the whole idea fell through.
Sometime last winter a BOR guy checked on the blocked tunnel and found water pressure increasing to the point of potentially blasting the blockage out in a catastrophic flood. It was said to be so bad that in February the local county commissioners declared an emergency.
It was such an imminent crisis that letters were written to President Bush and Congress. Hearings were held. BOR and EPA were told to play nice. Congress gave them $1.5 million to smooth things over. That paid for a siren to warn the people to run when the plug busted and EPA started work to install a drain to the BOR water treatment plant. Last June, however, a BOR guy re-checked the tunnel situation and said it was really no big deal anyway. Problem solved.
Ain’t it great how gub’ment works?
Date Taken:
Oct 12, 2008
Place Taken:
Leadville, CO
Owner:
Dan Nickens
File Name:
33_River_Works.jpg - Photo HTML
Full size - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZT4H0000h">
Medium - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZT4H0000m">
Thumbnail - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZT4H0000s">
Category:
329, Taking Peli Home
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